CITY Blues are in good Kompany during captain’s absence
VINCENT Kompany is still the man to whom Pep Guardiola turns when he feels his City team is in need of leadership.
When the Blues suffered a double blip against Crystal Palace and Leicester before Christmas, it was the big Belgian that the manager drafted in to add a bit more spine.
He got an instant response, with successive wins at Southampton and against Liverpool that boosted them back into the title race.
But then Kompany headed back to the treatment room again, and City slipped again, losing at Newcastle.
Guardiola’s frustration at Kompany’s unreliable hamstrings, thighs and calves is almost palpable.
He responded to a polite enquiry about the defender’s possible return date with a terse ‘no idea’ at last Friday’s press conference.
Kompany is still highly valuable to City, when fit, because he is their best natural defender but he’s also a born leader.
But Guardiola has fostered more of a team unity ethic and has gathered players who, while they may be fiercely competitive on the field, come across as quietly-spoken individuals off it – men like Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and John Stones.
When asked who were the players who show leadership when things are going wrong, Bernardo’s response was slightly surprising.
“Our captain is Vinny but unfortunately he is injured right now,” said the Portugal international.
“Fernandinho, Fabian Delph, David Silva, the more experienced guys, they know better how to solve the situation so we listen to them, we try to learn from them so our captains are the most important players to listen to in these kinds of moments.”
David Silva, as the second longest-serving player after Kompany, and as vice-captain, is no surprise, while Fernandinho is third in City’s list of five ‘captains,’ followed by Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne.
Delph being name-checked is more of a surprise, although the England international is not short of a thing or two to say.
His plea for City to ‘get the basics’ right in the ‘All or Nothing’ documentary has gone down in legend.
But Bernardo made it plain that, rather than being a dressing room full of recrimination when results go against them, City tend to become more tightknit as a group.
“The atmosphere in the dressing room is fantastic, everybody is trying to help each other to improve,” he said. “We just want to be better players game by game, to try and be a better team to try and win some titles at the end of the season.”